Bright Lights, Big City
by thatmitchsentho
Summary: Sequel to The Common Ground. Beca Mitchell is graduating college and moving not to LA but to New York, ready to begin the next chapter of her life with her girlfriend Aubrey Posen. The city is big, the lights are bright, but as long as Aubrey is there to hold her hand, she's got this. Maybe. [Mitchsen, will be M at some point]
1. Chapter 1

_Here it is, the first chapter of the sequel to The Common Ground. There's a time jump to Beca graduating college, I just figured there'd be little point trying to fill those years in. Warning: I've been outlining chapters and a long way down the track I might have killed someone (obviously not Mitchsen). I'm still debating whether or not it stays in. As always, your follows, faves and reviews are wonderful. Happy New Year to you all!_

**_got a note saying the URL was broken? So I've reuploaded the story, my apologies to anyone who had faved or followed already. no idea what happened there._**

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><p>Beca Mitchell drummed her fingers on her knee impatiently. She wasn't one for pomp and circumstance and the ceremony was going on forever. It wouldn't be a problem, except the goddamn graduation cap was fucking itchy. She ignored the desire to stick her hands in her hair and ruin the curls Stacie had helped shape her hair into.<p>

Finally the droning on had finished and they were ready to announce the graduates. More to the point, she was finally graduating college. She was all done, a dual degree holder in marketing and music production, a day that had seemed forever in the making.

College had been surprisingly good to Beca. She had her degrees, obviously. She had the Barden Bellas, an acapella group she had joined freshman year and won four national titles with, as well as forming close friendships with the girls. She had mended her relationship with her dad and stepmother. And then college had also gifted her with her girlfriend of three and a half years, Aubrey Posen. Aubrey had been a Bella when she attended Barden, and was captain of the group Beca's first year, when she was a senior. But there had been more to their bond, and around Christmas they had started dating.

It had been hard when Aubrey had gone off to Columbia Law, but they'd managed to make it. They'd had their share of fights, makeups, and nights crying over Skype when they wanted nothing more to be with each other. But it was all done, Aubrey was starting a new job the next week, and Beca was leaving for New York with her the next day.

Beca's reputation as an arranger, composer and producer of vocal tracks, on top of her programming at the college radio station and two years of DJ shifts at local clubs had drawn the attention of Epic Records. They'd offered a spot in their graduate program, and Beca was not hesitant in the least in accepting it. Aubrey was headed straight for a position at the United Nations, a surprise offer for sure. She had only applied for it on a whim not expecting to get it, but the recruiter had been impressed with her resume and recommendations. She'd shown a lot of interest in international law and human rights law, and it caught the attention of one of her professors. He had suggested it to her, and over a weekend spent with Beca going over the details, she had decided that she wanted to apply. Above all though, the two of them were most excited about finally being together, waking up together, and settling into a life together.

Beca heard her name and walked across the stage, accepting her fake diploma holder and shaking the dean's hand. She could hear cheers from her friends and family and smiled a little. Once the ceremony was over her eyes scanned the crowd for the face she wanted to see most. She was hit by her girlfriend from behind, two arms wrapping around her and a pair of lips pressing against her neck.

"Congratulations," she murmured. Beca turned in her arms and instigated another kiss, sinking against Aubrey's body and winding her arms around her neck.

"Let's keep it family friendly," a voice came. It was Chloe, their mutual best friend and the reason they found enough in common to begin dating. Aubrey relinquished her girlfriend long enough to let the redhead hug her.

"Thanks for coming, Chlo," she said.

"Are you kidding? Miss the Bellas reunion?" she said. She was referring to the planned party for the evening, a Bellas party. Since Aubrey and Chloe had been captains, they were naturally invited. Now that Beca had graduated, the group was being left to a pair of juniors who seemed to grasp what Beca was doing with arrangements.

After that, it was just one more day in Barden before Beca left for New York. New York was a surprise in itself. She'd had her heart set on LA to begin with, but the offer from Epic was too big to ignore, especially when the love of her life was there already.

The Bellas began to congregate around the three of them, hugs and chatter abounding. Before long, Beca slipped behind Aubrey, hands on her waist. Her fingers curled against her body slightly, and she leaned on tiptoe to kiss the spot just below her ear, the one that never failed to get her attention. It had the desired affect. The blonde turned around.

"We don't have time for that," she warned. She was right, because soon her dad and stepmom were beside them, closely followed by Beca's Aunt Marina. They all exchanged hugs with the new graduate before it was time for them all to leave for lunch.

Beca's dad had booked lunch for them in town, inviting Marina and Aubrey as well. They toasted to Beca, who, embarrassingly, was carded by the waiter before he'd pour her champagne.

The meal was excellent and the company was better. But time wore on and there were other things that needed doing. Beca's dad had final papers to grade, Marina hadn't even checked into her hotel yet, and Aubrey was itching to get back to hers. She had spent the entire meal with her hand moving increasingly further up Beca's thigh. Beca was clutching her dessert spoon white knuckle tight by the end of the meal. Mercifully, they called it a day and Beca's father went to settle the bill. They said goodbye to one another and Aubrey turned to Beca, pulling her in close.

"Let's get out of here," she said softly, eyes dark with lust. "We've got a little time before we have to get ready to meet the girls later." Beca nodded and the two hastily made their way to Aubrey's hotel room. They spilled through the door in a frenzy, Beca's shirt the first to hit the floor. It had been four weeks and two days since they were last alone together, and there were certain carnal urges that needed attention, serious and devoted attention.

A few rounds later, and they were finally moving from the bed to the shower. Aubrey was getting ready for their night out, and then they would drive back to Beca's so she could change. Beca had been sharing an apartment with Cynthia Rose for the past two years, and it had been a pretty good arrangement. They had a lot in common. Cynthia Rose wasn't sure what she was doing yet though, she'd gotten her degree in public relations and business management. They'd made a wine-fueled pact that if Beca ever needed representation, she'd be calling Cynthia Rose. At first Cynthia Rose had been sharing her room with Denise, but the two suffered a second pretty bad breakup and Denise had gone back to Kentucky where she was from. That had been a bad time for her roommate, and Beca's determination to pull her through had been yet another thing that had cemented the friendship. Now they were as close as sisters.

Beca lounged back on the bed, watching Aubrey get ready. All this time later and Beca couldn't believe how lucky she was to have a girlfriend like her. She was standing in front of the mirror wearing nothing but her underwear, and the sight alone was enough to make Beca want to throw her back on to the bed. It wasn't just that she was gorgeous, though. She was smart and driven, and thoughtful and she was patient. They were a great couple, if you asked anybody who knew them, unexpected but great.

"What are you staring at?" Aubrey asked into the mirror. Beca snapped out of her daze.

"Just my beautiful girlfriend," she shrugged. Aubrey now had a dress on, but she still climbed onto the bed, straddled her lap and pulled Beca into a steamy kiss.

"I love you, even if you are a massive cheeseball," she murmured against her lips.

"You love the cheesy," Beca said with a smirk.

"Yeah I do," Aubrey replied. Beca met her in another kiss, before pushing her away.

"Finish getting ready or we're not going to make it." Aubrey dutifully got up and found her shoes, touched up her makeup and they were ready to go to Beca's.

Beca took decidedly less time to get ready than her girlfriend. After her shower she quickly did her makeup and hair, pulled on the tightest jeans she owned - mainly for Aubrey's benefit - and a vest top. Aubrey wouldn't let her leave the room, instead grabbing her ass roughly and pulling their bodies together. Just as she was about to promise to do dirty things to her, Cynthia Rose popped her head through the door.

"Taxi is on - shit, my bad," she said, retreating hastily.

"It's okay CR," Beca said. "We're ready." She thought she heard a low growl from Aubrey's throat but the two women joined Cynthia Rose in waiting for the taxi.

Dinner with the Bellas was always an interesting affair. So many different personalities spread around a single table made for an entertaining evening. Beca was aware just how much she'd miss them all, Amy's hilarious stories, Lily's random and morbid observations, even Stacie's constant sexual innuendo.

After dinner came the club. Beca had been DJing weekends at every club that would have her. Her favorite was Oxide, and they'd promised her the VIP room for the night. The DJ that night was a weedy kid with good intuition and solid skills, so the club was jumping when they arrived. Beca immediately picked up a drink each for herself and Aubrey, and then let herself be led out to the dance floor.

Aubrey always loved to dance. Her and Chloe both. Beca liked it just fine, but her favorite part was getting to be up close and hands on with her girlfriend. It was a great way to spend the night, listening to great music, drinking and being with her friends, and running her hands all over Aubrey as they got lost in the bass. At one point she spotted Cynthia Rose chatting to a girl by the bar, which made her grin, and again a little later she grinned again when she saw the girl tug her out onto the dance floor. Aubrey followed her eyes.

"Who's that with CR?" She was a tall brunette with an explosion of curly dark hair.

"I have no idea," Beca said. The two girls were grinding close to each other's bodies. "Whatever. She deserves to have a good time."

"It's nice to see," Aubrey said.

"I know, she was so cut up when Denise broke up with her the second time. But she looks happy. And that makes me happy." Aubrey brought her eyes back to Beca, a smile gracing her features.

"You're beautiful," she said. "And I'm so glad we lasted." Beca stood on her toes and kissed her.

"Me too. I love you, Posen. Another drink?" Aubrey accepted and they went to the bar before joining some of the Bellas at a group of couches just off the dance floor. They sat and chatted with the girls for a while before they decided to head back to the hotel. Given that Beca was leaving town for good the next day, it took quite a while to say goodbye to all the girls, but eventually she managed to farewell all of them except for Cynthia Rose.

"Can we get out of here now?" the blonde asked. Beca nodded.

"Let me just go tell CR we're leaving." Beca made her way over to the other girl, tapping her on the shoulder and telling her they were going, also cheekily telling her to behave and winking before disappearing out of the club.

The next morning they dozed a little while before deciding to make a move. Aubrey showered and packed her things, then they checked out of the room and headed back to Beca's place. She'd planned ahead and was taking everything she could fit in the car with them to New York, and what didn't fit would be picked up by a delivery company and brought to the apartment next week. Given that Cynthia Rose was planning on hanging around Barden for a while, Beca was leaving the furniture behind so she could get another roommate, besides, the apartment in New York was already fully furnished.

"I'm packed and ready, once I have a shower we'll be good to pack up the car," Beca said, unlocking the door. She entered the kitchen and found the brunette Cynthia Rose had been dancing with last night staring groggily at the coffee maker. "Hello?"

"Oh," the woman said. She was only wearing a t-shirt and underwear. There was a large watercolor tattoo running down one tanned thigh. "Hi. Please tell me you're Cynthia Rose's roommate and you know how to work this thing. My need for caffeine is bordering on unholy right now." She didn't attempt to pull the shirt down.

"Yeah, I'm Beca," she replied. "This is my girlfriend Aubrey."

"I'm Natalie Walker," she said shaking both their hands. "Cynthia Rose is still in bed." Beca just raised an eyebrow and set the coffee maker going.

"You're giving me the look," the stranger said knowingly. "I get it."

"Do you?" Aubrey asked. She nodded.

"Ok. Let me just say for the record that what happened last night, I don't do that often. But I've seen your friend around a few times, mainly with you on nights you spin at Oxide," she said to Beca. "She caught my eye weeks ago and I'm glad I finally got up the nerve to talk to her. I think she's hot, she's sweet, we talked for hours and last night was a lot of fun. Hopefully she wants to go out again, a lot, because I would really like that. I'm not into hookups. That phase in my life is well and truly over. I'm not a bed hopping skank, I swear."

"Okay," Beca said. "But if you fuck her over I'm coming back from New York to kick your ass."

"Noted," she said. "So you're the DJ."

"Not any more," Beca said. She grabbed three mugs. "I'm off to Epic Records grad program."

"Really? That sounds cool," she said.

"What do you do?" Aubrey asked.

"I teach high school art," she said. "Which is why I'm awake. Body clock is set to go off at six am every day." The coffee finished and Natalie poured three mugs.

They shared the coffee together. Natalie seemed nice, she was mature and stable and comfortable being out, which had been Denise's biggest problem. She talked about Cynthia Rose enough that Beca and Aubrey figured that amongst whatever else had gone on the previous night, there had been some talking as well. Beca hoped she and Cynthia Rose found something together. They heard noise from Cynthia Rose's room.

"How does she take her coffee?" Natalie asked, getting up.

"Black with three sugars," Beca said, and she went back into the kitchen. Then Cynthia Rose appeared looking a little rumpled. She rubbed her face and noticed Natalie wasn't there, looking around warily.

"She's making you coffee," Aubrey said. The grin on the other girls face was unmistakable.

"She seems pretty nice," Beca said casually.

"Yeah," Cynthia Rose said. "She's cool. We'll see how it goes." She ducked into the kitchen.

"Let's give them some space," Beca said, and they went into her room. The bed was stripped bare and everything Beca owned was packed into suitcases and boxes to take to New York. Beca found some clothes and went to quickly take a shower. Aubrey pressed play on Beca's iPod, which she had plugged in to speakers, and lounged on the bare bed. Beca returned with wet hair and a robe around her body, and as she let it fall to the ground Aubrey sat up and eyed her appreciatively.

"What?" Beca said as she tugged some underwear on.

"Naked you," Aubrey replied simply. "Have I mentioned that I'm really looking forward to living with you? Having you in the bed with me every single day. No more Skype, no more FaceTime... You're going to be right there with me and not on a screen." Beca strode over and stood between her legs, leaning down to kiss her messily. Aubrey's hands found hot flesh, slightly pink from the shower and she pulled the brunette down. They got lost in a heated make out session for a while, before Beca's phone rang.

"It's my dad," she said. Aubrey pouted, but let her get up. Then Beca got dressed and they were about ready. Cynthia Rose and Natalie were eating breakfast now, laughing at something. Beca smiled as she began bringing stuff out.

"Damn B, you leaving already?" CR said.

"Yeah," she said. "I still have to see Marina and Dad and Sheila before we actually hit the road." The four of them loaded Beca's stuff into her car. Then Beca turned to CR.

"Take care of yourself CR. And thanks for everything. You've been really great to me," she said, hugging her.

"And both of you be careful," CR said. "And don't be a stranger. I'll miss you. Thanks for helping me come back." Beca didn't elaborate on the fact that they were referring to her ex. The hug went on for a few moments longer. Neither girl was particularly verbose so they preferred to hug it out.

"And I'm serious, if I ever need a publicist I'm calling you," she said. They broke apart and Aubrey gave her a quick hug. "And it was nice to meet you, Natalie."

"You too," she said. "Hopefully I'll see you again." That brought a smile to her roommates face. Aubrey waved as they got into the car and Beca honked as she drove away. Aubrey was looking into the rear view mirror.

"Natalie's hugging her," Aubrey said. "Cute."

"CR means a lot to me," Beca said. "I'm serious about kicking her ass if she fucks her over."

"I know," Aubrey said. "CR acts all tough but she's not. She's actually really sensitive and sweet. And I know how much you guys mean to each other."

Their plan was to catch up with Marina, her dad and Sheila for brunch and then drive from Atlanta to Durham, where Aubrey's father lived, spend the evening there and then continue on the next day.

By the time they got to North Carolina it was around dinner time. William, Aubrey's father, was pleased to see them and congratulated Beca on her graduation. They went out to eat, and were in bed relatively early, worn out by the driving they'd done during the day.

The next day they set out just after breakfast, promising a lengthier stay to Aubrey's father at Thanksgiving, and began the final leg of their journey. Beca started to get anxious when she hit the New York City traffic and Aubrey had to keep a hand on her knee to stop her from winding the window down and yelling at the obnoxious drivers that seemed to populate the city. Mercifully, they finally got to the apartment building that they now both called home.

The building had car spaces for every apartment, and since Aubrey hadn't bothered with a car since she got to New York, Beca parked hers in the space marked 6C. They toted all of the boxes and cases from the car to the apartment, and then collapsed on the couch together.

"Welcome home," Aubrey said, kissing her on the temple. They sat there for a few minutes before acknowledging that it would be better to keep going than stop. First, she texted her dad and then Cynthia Rose to let them know they'd arrived safely, and then they went into unpacking mode.

They ate delivered Thai and drank cold beer as they unpacked Beca's stuff into the apartment. It didn't take long - Aubrey had prepared for her arrival by making space for her clothes and stuff, and setting aside a large space and empty desk for her music stuff and all her mixing equipment. She wanted Beca to feel as at home in the apartment as she did. When the last thing was finally put away, they groggily stumbled toward the shower together, and then into bed, not able to do much more than pull each other close before they fell asleep.

The next morning was a different story. Aubrey was awake long before Beca, long enough to get in a run on the treadmill parked in a corner of the spacious living room and make coffee. She brought a cup in to Beca, who was stirring, setting it down on the bedside table. Beca sat up and drank half the mug in long gulps. Then she held a hand out to her girlfriend, pulling her down onto the bed. She rolled on top of her.

"What are you doing?" Aubrey asked, pulling back. "I'm sweaty and gross."

"Well, I thought it was about time I made love to my girlfriend in our house," Beca said. She ran a finger down toward the valley of her breasts. "Unless you're too sweaty and-"

"No," Aubrey said, pulling her back down. "No unless." Beca smirked and leaned down to kiss her deeply.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey everyone. Ideally I'd be updating this a little quicker but work is crazy pants right now. And when I'm not at work (last night I got out at 11:15 which meant I'd been there a little over 15 hours) I do like to decompress and love on my fiancee. She makes everything better. Thanks for hanging in there, for all the faves, follows and reviews. ~Rach._

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><p>They quickly found their routine. Aubrey was always up first, early, and Beca would wait until she heard the shower to get out of bed. Coffee would be ready and waiting as soon as Aubrey finished her shower, after which they'd eat breakfast together before Beca took her shower. Obviously, they sometimes altered the plan a little, making the most of the fact that they were sharing a bed. And a shower. And sometimes a living room. And occasionally a kitchen.<p>

Aubrey started work two weeks after Beca moved in, and Beca was due to start the week after that. During this time they both had to fill in paperwork and have medicals, and then on top of that, they both had to map out their commutes. They worked around the same distance apart, but Beca's subway lines were more crowded so she'd have to leave earlier. It left her a buffer so that if there were delays she wouldn't be late for work but if the travel was clear she'd have time for a bonus cup of coffee. Aubrey on the other hand had a quieter rail line, but her security procedure getting in and out of work was way more intense.

There was a supermarket within walking distance, and a smattering of coffee shops and take away restaurants. Neither of them was much for cooking, and during Aubrey's three years in the apartment, they'd narrowed down the good ones from the bad. All in all, Beca felt like she was living the dream. It was vastly different to the plans she'd put into place when she'd arrived in Barden, but those plans paled in comparison to what she had now.

Aubrey started work, and Beca took responsibility for doing the cleaning and buying of groceries. By the end of the first week, Aubrey was already absolutely raving about how much she enjoyed her job. It had been a big surprise to her father when she'd turned down a well-paying corporate law job for an okay-paying job at the United Nations, but it was certainly prestigious. Beca loved listening to how excited she was about it. Nothing made her happier than seeing how happy Aubrey was.

When she got home from work Friday, Beca was listening to music and sitting at the desk and going over her orientation package for her first day of work on Monday. Aubrey came in and pulled the headphones off, turning the swivel chair around and planting herself in the brunette's lap. Beca kissed her tenderly.

"Hi," she said. Aubrey kissed her again.

"Hi," Aubrey replied. "Ready to take on the music industry?"

"I don't know," Beca said. "I'm really nervous, to be honest. I know they were really interested, and Marcus has said over and over that they were very interested in my stuff, but I could still fuck it all up."

"But you won't," Aubrey said. "Because you understand music like nobody I've ever known. And you're talented and you work hard. Trust me Beca, you're going to kill it." Beca smiled at her.

"I love you," Beca said.

"I love you too. Now, are you all prepared? You don't need to pick anything up?"

"I was thinking I might go and grab another hard drive," Beca said. "I'd rather use an empty drive than one that already has my stuff on it. Keep it separate."

"We can do that tomorrow," Aubrey said. "I'd like to get a few things to wear to work."

"I'm so glad our dress is way casual," Beca said. "I'd never be able to wear skirts every day like you do."

"If I recall correctly there was a navy blue skirt you rocked pretty hard, once upon a time," Aubrey said.

"I'm not saying I couldn't do it, I'm saying it'd drive me mad," Beca said. "Obviously I'm not going to go to work in sweats, but I like the idea of being able to work in jeans."

"Do we have dinner plans?"

"I was going to go pick up pasta and a bottle of red," Beca said.

"Sounds perfect," Aubrey said. "I'll come for a walk. Have I got time for a quick shower?"

"Sure, I haven't called it in yet," Beca said. Aubrey pecked her again and then got off of her lap and headed toward the bathroom. Beca called their dinner order in; the restaurant was a block and a half away and the staff on the take away counter knew them by name now. She was tugging her Converse on as Aubrey appeared wearing short khaki shorts and a grey tee shirt. Her hair was wet and tossed back messily into a ponytail, and Beca just shook her head.

"What?" Aubrey said as she pulled her own shoes on.

"You're really motherfucking attractive, you know that right?" Beca said. She pulled the blonde toward her and kissed her hard. They walked hand in hand in the warm night air to pick up their food, stopping off to grab a bottle of merlot on the way. Then they ate straight out of the Styrofoam containers on the balcony, watching as the sun set and the bright lights of the city began to turn on.

When Monday morning arrived, Beca was more nervous than she'd been in years, probably since the first year they'd gone to the ICCA's with the Bellas. Aubrey could tell, so she wrapped the brunette in her arms.

"I love you, I'm proud of you, and you can do this," she said. Beca took a deep breath.

"Thanks Bree."

"Got everything?" she asked. Beca nodded. "Then you should probably get going. You don't want to miss your train." Beca kissed her and left the apartment.

She spent the train ride with her headphones on, plugged into the phone in her messenger bag. Her laptop case was slung over the opposite shoulder. She was lost in her own little world until she realized her stop was coming up. She made her way toward the carriage doors. When they opened, she felt a violent shove, and she didn't know what was going on. She felt another shove as she got onto the platform and searing pain in her right hand as she felt it hit something hard. Then she realized someone had just taken the laptop bag off of her right shoulder.

"Hey!" she called after the figure. "Get back here asshole!" It was futile, though. He'd already gone. She couldn't believe what had just happened. This was not an ideal first day of work, not at all.

"You okay?" a female voice said.

"That asshole stole my fucking laptop," she said angrily.

"Yeah, I saw that," the woman said. She was middle aged and wearing a t-shirt and what looked like hospital scrub bottoms. "But I was asking about your hand." She gestured to Beca's right hand. The smaller woman looked down and saw that two of her fingers were bent out at an odd angle.

"Huh," Beca said. "Now that you mention it, it does fucking hurt. My wrist too."

"I'm a nurse at City ER," she said. "You should come and get that looked at. You can also file a police report. Come on."

"Jesus," Beca said. "Yeah, okay. I hope this isn't an omen or something."

"What do you mean?" she asked, as they began to walk.

"I'm on my way to my first day at work," Beca said. "Which reminds me, I'm going to have to call my boss and tell him I won't be there. This is just excellent."

"If they give you any trouble, just let me talk to them," she said. "I'm Jenny, by the way."

"Beca," she replied. She pulled her phone out and dialed Marcus. "Marcus? Beca Mitchell."

"Hey Beca, On your way?"

"I was," she said gingerly. "Then I got mugged on the subway. Now I'm on my way to City ER."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," she said. "He got my laptop and hard drive, plus my hand is a little messed up. Fingers are pointing in directions that they don't normally point in, that sort of thing."

"Wow," he said. "Okay, today was mainly a meet and greet type thing anyway. I'll get HR to email you the insurance details, because you were covered as soon as we signed it all. Just make sure you file the police report because it'll make the insurance guys see that you're legit, okay?"

"Sweet," she said. "Thanks Marcus. I swear, I'll do whatever it takes to make it up."

"We can talk about that tomorrow," he said. He hung up and Beca let out a relieved sigh.

"Everything okay?" Jenny asked. She pointed to a crosswalk.

"He was surprisingly chill," Beca said. "He's emailing me the insurance details."

"We're just up the next side of this block," Jenny said. She steered Beca into the emergency room and spoke quickly with a nurse at a counter. They both looked at her hand, and the second nurse started a chart for her and promised a doctor would see her soon. She got Beca to answer some questions for the chart, age, next of kin, that sort of thing. Then she pointed Beca to a chair and said it wouldn't be long, and that someone would call the cops so she could file a report. Beca thanked her and sat in the hard plastic chair. She dug out her phone, figuring she should probably call Aubrey.

"Aubrey Posen," her girlfriend's voice came.

"Bree it's me," Beca said.

"Beca? Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I'm at City ER," she said.

"What!? How bad?" she said, alarmed. "I'll be there in an hour."

"No, it's not that bad," Beca said. "I got mugged on the subway. There was a nurse on the train platform, she brought me in. I'd say my fingers are dislocated."

"But you're okay?" Aubrey said.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm pretty okay. The dude got my laptop and stuff, so I'll need a new one at some point. I already called Marcus, he's sending through the insurance details, and I have to file a police report."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Aubrey worried.

"How about we wait and see what the doctor says and I'll call you back?" Beca compromised. Aubrey relented, and made Beca swear she'd call her in an hour. They hung up and Beca fidgeted in her seat. Her wrist was really hurting and her fingers were starting to get a little cold. She thought that might be a bad sign. The nurse at the desk looked busy, but she figured it might warrant an interruption.

"Excuse me?" she said. The nurse looked up. "Sorry to be that pain in the ass patient. I'm the mugging?"

"Jenny brought you in," she said.

"Yeah, um, do you know how long this is going to take? I know it's normally a severity thing, but my fingers are getting cold and I'm pretty sure that's bad." The nurse quirked an eyebrow. She reached out and took Beca's hand, then felt the skin on her uninjured fingers then her injured fingers in turn. Then she pressed down on Beca's nail and watched how long it took for the color to return.

"Come on back," she said. She brought Beca back to a room where there were four beds, two others occupied but neither occupant looking particularly ill. Probably cases like hers, she figured. Nothing contagious, probably minor. Then the nurse went and grabbed the first white coat she saw and dragged them into the room.

"Dr Liebermann, Beca Mitchell," she said. "Beca was mugged on the subway this morning, obvious dislocation to two digits. Now they're getting cold and she has poor cap refill. Also complains of wrist pain."

"Okay," the doctor said. The nurse smiled and left. The doctor repeated the same actions the nurse did and he also didn't like the results much. "Miss Mitchell, I'm a little worried that the blood flow to your fingers might be compromised by the dislocation. Normally we'd x-ray you and then do a reduction, but I don't think we can afford to wait that long. So, if it's okay with you, I'd rather call an orthopedic specialist down to reduce them right now, and we'll take the x-ray after. I really just want to get the blood back into your fingers."

"Sounds good to me doc," she said. "I'm pretty attached to them." He got up and went to the phone, dialing a number and sitting back down. A young nurse came in and fastened a patient ID bracelet on her unhurt wrist, took her temperature and her blood pressure.

"While we wait, how's the wrist?" the doctor said.

"Hurts like hell," Beca said. There was a graze and some nasty bruises forming on it. He gingerly took her wrist and felt around the bones. Beca winced once or twice as he did so.

"I'd bet on a couple fractures in there as well," he said. "We'll x-ray it when we do the fingers. Mugged?"

"He got my laptop and a few accessories," she said. "I was on my way to my first day at work." He looked sympathetic. A tall woman with silvery hair came in.

"Liebermann?" she said in a clipped voice. She looked busy but competent.

"Dr Hartley, this is Beca Mitchell," he said. He quickly explained that he wanted to reduce them now so she got her circulation back. The woman sat down and took her fingers.

"This might hurt," she said. She touched them a few times. "Have you had any pain relief?"

"Not yet," Beca said. "The wrist hurts way more, to be honest."

"I'll be frank," she said. "I'm going to pop them back into place. It's going to hurt a hell of a lot as I do it, but then it'll be fine. You'll probably feel some pins and needles as the blood returns." Beca wrinkled her nose.

"Okay," she said. "Let's do it. Don't tell me when, just do it." She screwed her eyes shut and felt the doctor take her hand. Then there was an unbelievable burst of pain as one of her fingers was wrenched back into place. She grunted as the second one went back in, but then found that the doctor had been right, it didn't hurt any more.

"Let me know if there's anything on the films I should see," the woman said to Dr Liebermann.

"Thanks doc," Beca said. Her hand had started to swell a little. Dr Liebermann picked up her chart and wrote on it for a few moments. Then he touched her fingers again, tested their temperature and pressed on her nails again.

"That already looks better," he said. "So a nurse is going to come and get you for x-rays. She's also going to bring you some pain relief. Are you allergic to anything?"

"Nothing that I'm aware of," she said.

"We'll go with Percocet," he said. "We'll keep an eye on you in case there's a reaction while we wait for the film. See you soon, okay?" She nodded and he moved on. She wasn't alone for long before the nurse returned with a wheelchair.

"Seriously?" Beca said. "It's my hand."

"Policy," she said with a smile. "Seems mental, but you know. I've also got your Percocet. So the deal is this. You get in the chair, you get the drugs." Beca took the pills and dutifully got up and sat in the chair. The x-ray was painless and quick, thanks in large part to the Percocet, and before long the nurse was returning her to her room. Once she was deposited safely back into the room, she called Aubrey to update her.

"Beca?" Aubrey said. Beca could hear the worried tone even through the drug haze that was beginning to settle. "How are you?"

"They popped my fingers back in place," she said. "And gave me Percocet. I'm waiting for my x-rays to come back."

"Percocet?" Aubrey said.

"Yep," Beca said. "I like it."

"I'll be there soon," Aubrey said. "I called my boss and explained the situation, it's fine for me to come. Just sit tight. Have the police been?"

"Not yet," Beca said.

"Alright, I'll be there soon," Aubrey said. "I love you."

"Love you too," Beca said. She kicked off her boots and lay back on the bed as she felt her eyelids begin to droop. She fell into a half-sleep, dozing through the painkillers until she heard familiar footsteps and roused herself into consciousness.

"Beca?" came Aubrey's voice. The nurse from earlier was escorting her.

"Bree," she said. "You're here."

"Yeah I am," Aubrey said. "There are some police officers outside as well if you think you can talk to them."

"Yeah," she said. "I feel floaty, but I can remember what happened." The nurse checked her vitals quickly and then told the cops they could come in. Aubrey sat next to her as she answered their questions about what exactly the man had managed to take and what she remembered about him. They said they'd file the report and gave her an incident number, but were honest about the fact that the sorts of thefts were generally hard to solve. Beca was smart enough to have backed up her machine, and she was also smart enough to have password protection, but the police intimated that it generally led to the machine being completely erased and rebooted or destroyed and tossed.

When the cops left Dr Liebermann returned with her x-rays. He confirmed for her that her fingers had been aligned just fine but her wrist was fractured in three places. Aubrey stepped over to check out the x-rays.

"Is she going to need a cast?" she asked.

"I'm afraid so," he said. "Are you right handed?"

"No," Beca said. "There's something that's finally going my way."

"Well, we'll pop the cast on your wrist and those fingers and you can go home," he said. "I'll give you a prescription for more Percocet because this is probably going to hurt for a while."

"Okay," she said. Aubrey sat next to her on the bed as they waited. Beca was starting to get fatigued and curled up against Aubrey's side. The nurse returned with insurance paperwork and Aubrey filled it in for Beca using the information from the email on her phone. It wasn't much longer before the cast was put on, and once it had dried up a bit Aubrey was allowed to check her out.

"You can get the cast off in six weeks at the clinic upstairs," Dr Liebermann said. "But you'll be fine. Two pills every four to six hours but no more than eight in twenty four hours, okay? After you run out a little codeine will suffice, but it's probably best not to prolong painkillers."

"Sure thing," Beca said. "And thanks for your help doc."

"No problems. Take care," he said. Aubrey took Beca's hand and they headed back toward the subway. It was well after lunchtime now, and neither of them had eaten.

"Will you be okay to stop off and grab something to eat?" Aubrey asked.

"Yeah," Beca said. "I'm starving, to be honest." Aubrey bought the appropriate tickets and they headed to grab some lunch. After they were done, Beca assumed they were going to head straight home, but Aubrey paused in front of a tech store.

"What?" Beca asked.

"You need a new laptop," Aubrey said. "And a hard drive and software."

"Yeah but that can wait til I get paid," Beca said.

"Don't be ridiculous," Aubrey said. "I'll buy it now. You can be set up and ready to go by tomorrow. No skimping either, whatever you need."

"Bree that might run more than you're thinking," she said. "I can't let you do that."

"Yeah, you can," Aubrey said. "Call it an investment in your future, call it me loving you a whole lot and believing in you, call it I've got more money than I need, I don't care." Beca bit her lip.

"You're sure?"

"Yes I'm sure," Aubrey said. Beca planted a soft kiss on her cheek and they went inside. Given what had already happened to Beca once that day, after they were done inside the store, Aubrey called a cab for the remainder of the trip. Beca used the ride to call Marcus and let her know she would be in the next day. By the time they got home Beca was starting to feel the pain in her wrist again and was getting grumpy. Aubrey gave her more Percocet and deposited her in a warm bath, a plastic bag taped securely over her arm and hand. When she checked on her about ten minutes later, Beca was asleep, arm hanging over the rim of the tub. Aubrey smiled and grabbed her phone to take a quick picture before she woke the girl up enough to wrap a towel around her and get her into the bedroom. She wrangled her into a shirt and some underwear, and pulled a blanket up to her waist. Then she grabbed her computer and sat next to her, reading up for work the next day and waiting for her to wake.


	3. Chapter 3

_A massive thank you to everyone who has said they're enjoying the story. Please understand that while I do try and update as often as I can, it's not always possible for me to churn out chapter after chapter. Work is pretty stressful right now, and I'm still balancing that with making sure my fiancee knows that I love her and she's the most important thing to me. The few days I've had off since the holidays I've been recovering from work, so writing is a little hard for me right now. But be patient, I'm not abandoning any of my Pitch Perfect stories. I promise you that much. Thanks! ~Rach_

* * *

><p>Aubrey was reluctant to let Beca catch the subway the next day, especially since she was still taking painkillers. So until Beca weaned herself from all pain relief it was agreed that she'd catch a taxi to work in the mornings and in the evenings Aubrey would come to Epic and they'd ride the subway home together.<p>

On Tuesday she arrived eager to play catch up on anything she had missed. She made her way to the third floor where she met Marcus outside the conference room they were based in. She explained that she was still on painkillers so might get a bit fuzzy from time to time. He offered her more time off but she didn't want to get too far behind, so he ushered her inside so she could meet her colleagues for the first time.

"Everyone, this is Beca Mitchell," Marcus said. "Beca, this is Luis, Gary, Sharelle, Nina, Beau and Delilah." Beca waved her hand at them all.

"How is the hand?" Nina asked, nodding at the cast.

"Broken," Beca said. "Hurts like a bitch. The cops aren't optimistic but it could have been much worse. Plus, I'm left handed so at least I'll still be able to work okay." She sat between Nina and Sharelle and unpacked her gear as best she could. Marcus brought a folder to her and set it down.

"If you want we can grab lunch later and I'll run through what we covered yesterday," Sharelle said.

"Thanks," Beca said.

"We're starting off with the boring stuff, I'm afraid," Marcus said. "Ethics and copyright." Beca pulled out her phone and set it to record in case she started to get drowsy, and pulled out a pen to take notes. Aubrey had told her that active note taking would help keep her brain alert, even if it was writing down exactly what the person was saying.

She survived until it was time for a coffee break, but she was noticing some pain in her wrist. She popped half a Percocet in her mouth and washed it down with her coffee, and joined her colleagues. She appeared to be a little younger than most of them, but they all seemed okay so far, except Luis who was pretty arrogant and talked about himself almost exclusively.

"So how bad is the hand?" Luis asked. "You all doped up?"

"Well, I had two dislocated fingers that they had to pop into place before I lost blood flow," Beca said, "And I have three fractures in my wrist. So it's pretty bad. And yeah, I'm on the good stuff, but I don't want to take my full dose or I'll be snoring on Nina's shoulder by lunch."

"Was it scary?" Delilah asked.

"I didn't even realise it was happening until it was done," Beca said, shrugging. "I've got six weeks with this lovely cast." Marcus herded them all back into the conference room and began the second part of his ethics and copyright talk. Beca didn't doze off, which she was glad about, but she was pretty wrecked come lunch time when she followed Sharelle downstairs.

"Okay," Beca said, "I need carbs and saturated fats and possibly sugar. Is there somewhere around here that does burgers?"

"Yeah, around the corner," she said. Delilah joined them and they ordered their food quickly. Luckily, Beca hadn't missed much the previous day. Marcus had basically outlined the program for them in the morning, which was also in the front of the folder that he'd given her. Sharelle and Delilah had both taken some additional notes that they said they were happy to pass along. The afternoon session had been more of a get-to-know-you for the group in which they had all shared about themselves.

"That makes you an unknown," Delilah said. "Ms Mysterious." Their food arrived and Beca snagged some fries before she continued.

"Far from mysterious," Beca said. "Grew up in Portland, where my mom taught at the Con. She taught me how to read music, play piano. I bought a guitar, taught myself how to play that. I've always been in love with music, and started mixing in high school as a hobby. My mom passed away my senior year and I finished out high school living with my aunt before I moved to Georgia where my dad lives to go to school there. My dad taught at Barden U, he taught in the English department, but I double majored in marketing and music production. During college I worked at the campus radio station, and from there I got some stuff heard, did some DJing gigs around Atlanta, got some radio play there. I also wrote all of the arrangements for the acapella group I was captain of."

"Acapella?" Sharelle said. "Singing?"

"Yeah," Beca said. "The Barden Bellas. We were the first all-female group in history to take out the national title. We won every year I was in college, four national wins in a row."

"So you can sing, play piano, play guitar, mix, you can arrange and compose, and you DJ in all your spare time?" Sharelle said. "Shit, Mitchell. You're dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

"Marcus says two of us will get cut inside a year," Delilah said. "But back up a little. All female? Where is the fun in that?"

"We had four groups on campus," Beca said. "One all girls, one all guys, one full of stoners and one who really loved show tunes. I'm not a stoner, not a dude, and my theatre obsession was not as tight as it needed to be for the Harmonics. Plus, the Bellas didn't turn out so bad. My girlfriend was captain my first year. That's how we met, and now we've been together three and a half years."

"Girlfriend?" Sharelle asked.

"Yep. Her name's Aubrey, she graduated Columbia Law and now she works at the UN," Beca said. "What about you guys?"

"I'm married," Sharelle said. "His name is James, he's in law as well but regular law at a law firm. We have a four year old son named Duke. I put off my last two years of school temporarily when he was born."

"And there was a boy back home," Delilah said, "Emphasis on the boy. He heard I got this position and was all, 'Baby you should let me give you some stuff, they need to hear it, I'ma be bigger than Kanye.' And I said no and then all of a sudden I was a bitch so I said bye to that boy." They all laughed. Beca liked these girls.

They finished their meal and got to know one another a little better. Afterwards, they headed back to Epic for their afternoon sessions. A thirty-something redhead in Louboutins was at the front of the room. She looked like she was competent and gave off the air that she had little time for messing around. Marcus introduced her as Annalise Moore from Artist Development and Management. She spent the first session explaining the finer details of what her department was responsible for, which included listening to the hundreds upon hundreds of unsolicited tracks they were sent every week.

"It sounds ruthless," Annalise said, "But if it's been fifteen seconds and we're not enthralled, it gets tossed. We also don't have time to listen to ten, twelve songs on a demo reel. The best song has to be first, and if there's more than five we generally don't bother. It means that an artist can't pick their best material. If they can't decide what their best is, they don't know their sound well enough."

"Sounds cold," Luis said.

"Cold but necessary. We simply don't have the manpower. We get about 800 submissions a week," Annalise said. "At an average of four minutes a song, and an average of five tracks per submission, it would take around two hundred and seventy man hours just to listen to submitted work. It's not feasible and it's sure as hell not profitable."

"ADM is the busiest part of this business," Marcus said. "Sure everyone wants to get into a studio, but a lot of what happens in the studio is reliant on a flawless ADM department. And we have one. Annalise has been in her role now nine months, but she spent seven years under the best in the business. As far as Epic goes, she is the gatekeeper."

"We've got a lot of work to cover, but we are also always looking for something special," Annalise said. "We want to be in a position to be first with a new sound. The absolute cutting edge. Given that you guys are the very best of the applicants that we received, we do have a couple of opportunities for you guys to flaunt your stuff to us, outside the program, and the first one starts now." She pulled some flash drives from her briefcase.

"This isn't mandatory, it's just for fun, or to show us a little something, if that's what you're into," Annalise said. "I'm not expecting PR buffs to have a crack at this. Each flash drive contains three tracks that were recorded by staff here. Intentionally shit. We like to give them to the grads who want to get into engineering and producing and see how much natural skill they have. So, like I said. Three tracks. Fix them."

"Fix them?" Nina asked.

"Turn them into something you'd consider playable and give them back," Annalise said. "There's no time frame, nothing like that, just some professional curiosity. Who wants one?" Everyone took one except Beau and Sharelle. Beca had learned at lunch that Sharelle had studied PR and was looking to get into management, and Beau had the same career goal. Luis took his and announced with great fanfare that he'd be a household name by the end of the semester, causing almost everyone to roll their eyes.

"What's his deal?" Beca asked Sharelle quietly.

"He helped out in the studio for a track that hit the club chart in the UK," Sharelle said. "He says he engineered it, but Google says otherwise. More than likely he was just an intern or a gofer or something, he doesn't even have a recommendation from the studio. Immense wanker, if you ask me."

"Good to see my first impression was accurate," Beca replied. She raised her hand and Annalise handed her a flash drive.

"I didn't see you yesterday," she said, confused. "Hang on, you're the one who got mugged?"

"Yeah, that's me," Beca said. "Beca Mitchell. I'm fine though. Ready to work."

"Good," Annalise said with a smile. "Now. Coffee break, then we tour Epic's studio levels." The tour was comprehensive. They saw inside several of the recording studios, had a quick rundown on some of the technical aspects and toured the instrument cave. It was mostly pianos, stuff people didn't normally lug into studios.

"How many people still request pianos in the studio?" Gary asked. "Everything's so poppy nowadays, nobody really plays them any more."

"True," Annalise said. "A lot of them prefer the piano off the studio, to run chords or to do some songwriting or something. But some still use them. Like in a couple of months, this baby here will be in studio with Sara Bareilles. She still likes a piano." The tour was done not long after and they were ready to end for the day. The group gathered their stuff to leave and Beca shot off a quick text to let Aubrey know they were done, then she took a seat in one of the low leather chairs in the lobby, pulled out a bottle of water and took some Percocet to still the painful throb in her wrist. Aubrey texted back that she was still about half hour away, so she got comfortable. About fifteen minutes later a body dropped into the chair next to her.

"Can't get enough of the place?" Annalise said.

"Waiting on my girlfriend," Beca said. "She's not thrilled about me catching the subway while I'm doped up so I promised her I'd wait and we'd ride home together."

"That's not the stupidest idea I've ever heard," she said. "Glad to see it hasn't affected your desire to come to work though."

"I would have been here yesterday afternoon if I hadn't been out like a light," Beca said. "And if Aubrey had let me." Annalise was watching with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"Just trying to remember which one you are," she said. "Somewhere near Atlanta... Barden U?"

"That's me," Beca said. The lobby door pushed open and Aubrey strode in. "And here's my personal escort."

"Hey," Aubrey said, coming over and kissing her on the cheek. "I ended up walking the last bit, traffic is a nightmare."

"Aubrey Posen, this is Annalise Moore from Artist Development and Management," Beca introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Aubrey said.

"You too. I was just keeping Beca company while she waited," Annalise said. "Enjoy the rest of your evening ladies."

"Yeah, see you later," Beca said. She reached out for Aubrey's hand with her own uninjured one and they left together.

Once they got home, they both undressed and got in the shower, Beca with a bag taped over her cast again. Aubrey washed her hair for her, then soaped down her body as well, which led to some heated making out until Beca got frustrated that her hand was out of action. Then they moved into the bedroom and dried off, before Beca decided to continue their shower activities. Instead of using her goddamned hand that was encased in plaster up to her forearm, she ripped the bag off, dropped to her knees and brought Aubrey's leg over her shoulder. She felt Aubrey's hands tighten in her hair as she came into contact with her center, and her leg twitched as she began gently suckling her clit.

Aubrey's body began to give way as she kept going, and Beca allowed her to tug her up and onto the bed so she could continue without fear of the two of them falling onto the floor. Beca's free hand reached up for one of Aubrey's as she resumed her position between her legs, and the blonde squeezed her hand tightly. Her moans only spurred Beca on as she kept her pace going until Aubrey was bucking wildly underneath her, her orgasm washing over her in a blissful wave. She sucked in steady gasps of breath as her body recovered, her hand tugging Beca up toward her face so she could kiss her.

"I love you, Beca," she said as their mouths messily collided. The brunette simply ground down against her, her need driving her beyond the ability to talk. Aubrey got the hint and immediately her hand snaked down to where Beca needed it most. As Aubrey found her clit she let out a strangled moan and let her body weight fall on top of her. Aubrey managed to roll them over, avoiding Beca's injured hand, working her hand hard to give Beca the release she was aching for. Her mouth affixed to the side of her neck, then moved downwards toward her collarbone, her teeth softly digging into the ridge. Beca swore and Aubrey repeated the action, her fingers driving into her girlfriend firmly. Beca tightened around her fingers and only a few short thrusts later she came with a satisfied moan. They curled into the shape of one another's bodies, Aubrey softly stroking somewhere on Beca's ribcage as they lay there together.

"I was only planning on washing your hair, but I'm not going to complain if it ends up like that," Aubrey said. Beca turned and kissed the end of her nose.

"Love you," she said. "God I almost need another shower after that."

"I know, right?"

"Instead I vote we order in and eat in our pajamas," Beca said. "I've got some catch up reading I want to take care of."

"That sounds perfect to me," Aubrey said. "I'll order Chinese." They didn't move for a few moments, only getting up when the rumble of Beca's stomach was clearly audible in the quiet of the bedroom. They pulled clothes on and Beca dug her work stuff out while Aubrey called for food.

It didn't take long to arrive, and they ate on the couch. Afterward, Aubrey stretched out with her feet in Beca's lap, reading some novel Beca didn't recognize, and Beca went over the orientation package to make sure she hadn't missed anything vital. Then she pulled out the flash drive and imported the music files, clicking on the first. It was horrible. Pitchy and inconsistently timed, gaps in the arrangement. She hit stop.

"What's that?" Aubrey asked. "Please don't tell me that's the kind of thing Epic are producing right now."

"No, they want us to fix it," Beca said. "There's a couple tracks on here. Annalise said they hand them out to see what kind of skills we have."

"Well, I've heard you make gorgeous arrangements out of nothing, so I'm sure you're going to nail it," Aubrey said.

"I hope so," Beca said. "If I can bring myself to listen to the entire track."

"I'll say. My eardrums found it quite offensive," Aubrey said.

"Pass my headphones?" Beca said. "I need to listen with them on to hear all the detail."

"And I won't have to listen at all," Aubrey said, passing them over. "Excellent deal." Beca just pulled them on and restarted the track. Her pen twitched in her fingers as she began to scribble ideas on a notepad. Aubrey was watching with a smile. Getting to see Beca work, watching her craft something, was something she felt very privileged to see. So when she could, she watched. She could see the little nods of her head as ideas raced through, only the best committed to the paper in front of her. Her fingers would occasionally tap along to try and measure out a beat as the rest of the music flowed.

"Okay," Beca said to herself. She opened the file in one of her own programs and began stripping layers out. Aubrey recognized the face she had on now. It could be a long night, but Beca would have something much better come morning. She saw it was starting to get late and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, which caused her to pull the headphones off.

"Don't stay up all night," Aubrey said.

"I won't, I just want to strip it into pieces," Beca said. "I don't like the key, but I need it to have some of the same features otherwise it won't be a fixed track, just a new one. Should only take about ten minutes."

"I'll keep you to that," Aubrey said. "Your hand hurt?"

"Not so much," Beca said. "But I'll take something before I come to bed." Aubrey got up and went to wash up, then settled in bed. She was just starting to drift off when an arm wrapped around her waist and lips pressed to the back of her neck. She smiled as she slipped away.


	4. Chapter 4

It was easy for them to fall into a routine. After a few weeks they basically found themselves living like they'd never been apart. Beca had weaned herself off of painkillers pretty early and now only very occasionally swore at the cast on her hand, when it got itchy. She was due to have it off the following week. She was loving Epic though, working hard, staying focused and getting to know some of her colleagues. She quite enjoyed talking to Sharelle and Delilah, and the rest of the group was okay too, except Luis. His incessant showboating grew thin very quickly and most people had to remember not to roll their eyes as he was speaking.

Aubrey was enjoying her job, too. She'd come home at night and tell Beca all about what she was working on, not that Beca understood the legal jargon, but she loved the smile it put on Aubrey's face. She was passionate about what she was doing, and passionate Aubrey was exceptionally gorgeous. They'd spend their evenings eating takeout, swearing they were going to learn how to cook, walking the nearby blocks hand in hand, and reading and working side by side on the couch. It was a perfectly easy domesticity.

One night they were curled up on the couch, and Beca saw a post pop up on Facebook. _Cynthia Rose Peters is in a relationship with Natalie Walker. _She hit the 'like' button, grinning, and nudged Aubrey with her foot.

"Look what just became Facebook official," Beca said, angling the screen toward her.

"Aww. That's great, I'm happy for them. I liked Natalie, the whole few minutes that I saw her," Aubrey said.

"Me too," Beca said. "I'm going to call CR. Do you want some coffee?"

"Please," Aubrey said. "This review is kicking my ass." Beca picked up her cell phone and headed into the kitchen, dialing her best friend as she waited for the coffee.

"Hey," CR answered. "What's up city girl?"

"Oh nothing much," Beca said. "I'd ask what's up with you, but it's on Facebook. Official huh?"

"Yeah," came the response. "It's good with her you know? Easy. We can be walking around and I'll just take her hand, and I won't have to worry about who's going to see us, or if she's okay with it."

"I'm really glad, CR," Beca said. "She keeping you happy though?"

"Is she ever," the other girl laughed. "Girl loves to dance. And I'm not exactly the kind to shy away from the dance floor, you know me. She's sweet. I'm digging her a lot."

"So sometime you guys will have to come visit," Beca said. "I'm assuming Mama Peters wants first visit rights, but after that."

"Mama Peters talks to her on the phone every time she calls," Cynthia Rose said. "I met one of Nat's sisters last weekend. She said I was different from the last one, but good different. Apparently I make her smile. Now, tell me about this fancy record label job you've got, bigshot." Beca began telling her all about how the grad program was going. Cynthia Rose had picked up an internship at a radio station, in their public relations department and she said she was grateful for the experience but she was looking for something with a little more guts in it. Beca could get behind that. It was how she felt stacking records back at WBUJ before Luke had let her into the booth.

She hung up after a few more moments chatting, promising to talk again soon, and took the coffee in to Aubrey. "I told CR to bring her girlfriend out here sometime," she said.

"Sounds good to me," Aubrey said. "How is Cynthia Rose?" Beca relayed what they'd talked about, both girls forsaking their work momentarily to share their coffee together. Eventually Aubrey sighed that she'd better keep reading because she wanted to memorize it back to front, and Beca smiled to herself because she loved even the perfectionist part of her girlfriend beyond belief. She was done with what she was doing, so she pulled her headphones on and decided to work on her fix tracks.

They'd been a fun puzzle over the past few weeks. She was pretty sure she was close to finishing the last of them. But, like Aubrey, when it came to the thing she was passionate about, she was a perfectionist. She hit play and listened intently to the track from start to finish. This one had been hard. She hated the vocal and ended up re-recording it herself. She didn't even know if that was technically within the rules of their little game. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, repeating the track. There was just one more thing, she could feel it.

She sat there, unmoving, for almost an hour. Then it all fell into place. Her eyes sprang open and her fingers gravitated toward the keyboard. Aubrey watched as Beca did whatever she did when she worked her magic. After about half hour or so, Beca stuck a flash drive into her laptop and after waiting a moment, closed her laptop with a triumphant grin.

"All done," she said.

"Your track fixes?" Aubrey asked.

"Yep," Beca said. "Finally. I'll take them in and give them to Annalise tomorrow." Aubrey read for a while longer, occasionally picking up a pencil and jotting notes in the margins of her paperwork. Beca just sat there with a hand on her leg, humming lightly and enjoying being with Aubrey.

The next morning Beca handed her songs in to Annalise. The older woman remarked that nobody had gotten back to her with anything else just yet, but promised to listen to them later that day.

During their lunch break, Gary and Luis began trying to plan a night out for the group so that they would all be able to get to know each other socially. Beca cringed inwardly. She was still an introvert, and she wanted to get to know people at her own pace. Plus, she had a sneaking suspicion that Luis would only get more obnoxious with alcohol. And unfortunately for Gary, Luis seemed to be a bad influence on him.

"Come on," Luis was pleading. "Team drinks!" Sharelle was trying not to roll her eyes.

"I have a kid, Luis," she said. "A kid I don't want to bring into a bar just because you want our help trolling for ass." Nina snickered.

"Get a baby sitter," Gary said. "What do you do when you're at work?"

"Okay," Beca said. "Is this a deal I can bring someone to? Because trust me, I see you guys a hell of a lot more than I see my girlfriend, so if I can't bring her I'm out." Luis immediately wheeled around.

"You're a lezzo?" he asked. Beca didn't restrain herself from rolling her eyes this time. "That's hot."

"Did those words just literally come out of your mouth?" Delilah said. "Boy, you're asking for a harassment lawsuit."

"Yeah, you can go ahead and count me out," Beca said pointedly.

"No, come on," Luis pleaded. "I'll stop being a jerk, I'm sorry."

"Fine," she said. "But only if I get to bring Aubrey."

"And I'm bringing James," Sharelle said. "I'll see if the baby sitter can do a late night."

"I swear to god, Luis, if you start talking shit-"

"You'll kill me, I got it," he said with a wink.

"Oh, it's not me you should be worried about," Beca promised. "Aubrey would eat you alive and have room for beer nuts." They settled the location and agreed that Friday night at seven would be fine. Aubrey wasn't as hesitant as Beca had been expecting, stating that it would be nice to meet some of the people she worked with. She did, however, have a meeting that wouldn't let out til six so she said she'd just have to meet them at the bar.

When Friday night drinks came around, they all sat around ordering their first round. Beca was anxious to see Aubrey, seeing her of an afternoon was basically the highlight of her day. Also, it would distract her from listening to Luis, who was already two drinks ahead of the team and trying to recruit them into helping him pick a girl up for the night.

"Luis is not happy with just any dress, you know," he was saying in what everyone believed was the world's most obnoxious tone. "Luis needs something special. Higher caliber. Something that looks a lot like that. That's definitely something Luis needs in his life." His eyes were glued to the front door, and Beca almost cracked him across the skull with her beer bottle.

"Yeah, if you like your dick attached to your body, you won't be going anywhere near her with your third person bullshit," Beca said. "Because that's my girlfriend you're ogling." Aubrey had arrived, and was shedding her jacket. She looked a little stressed out, but still more gorgeous than anything Beca had ever seen. She immediately got up and made her way over to the blonde.

"Hey," she said, kissing her quickly. "You okay? You look a bit out of it."

"I'll explain later, nothing to worry about," Aubrey said. "Nothing a scotch on the rocks won't fix."

"I'm going to apologise in advance for Luis," Beca said. "He's an ass, and the more he drinks, the worse he gets." She brought her over and introduced her to everyone, seating her next to Sharelle and her husband before going to get the promised drink. Luis followed her.

"Serious, Mitchell?" he said. "That's yours?"

"No, I fucking kissed a random and sat her down," Beca said. "And she's not 'that'. Her name is Aubrey, and she's her own. And I swear to god if you don't calm your shit down I'll fucking kick your ass."

"Please, you couldn't kick a toddlers ass," he said as they returned to the table.

"I dunno," Aubrey said. "She got picked up for assault and mal damage in college." Beca shot her a fake glare, grinning. Nothing had ever come out of the incident with the Tonehangers, but it did make for a fun retelling. Aubrey just innocently sipped her Scotch as the group hassled Beca into telling the story.

The night wasn't so bad. Luis did get increasingly annoying as he continued drinking, and unfortunately Gary also got obnoxious after the fifth round. Aubrey seemed to have a lot to talk about with Nina, and also with Sharelle's husband. After the third drink, though, a headache settled behind Aubrey's eyes. Beca could see she was done for the day, and told her she'd call a cab.

"So soon?" Gary asked.

"Yep," Beca said. "I'm taking Bree home, she's got a headache. Don't do anything stupid."

"Yeah, we're calling it too," James said. "I want to get home to Duke." Beca helped Aubrey back into her jacket and dug her cell out to call a cab. She went to the bar and bought a bottle of water as well, handing it to her girlfriend. They said their goodbyes and waited outside for the taxi. Aubrey drank most of the water.

"You okay?" Beca asked, pushing hair from her face.

"Mmm," Aubrey said. "Just one of those days." The taxi pulled up and they got into the back, Beca giving their address to the man driving.

"Want to tell me about it?"

"Well, it's just this one guy, really," Aubrey said. "He's incessant with the hitting on me. I've told him I have a girlfriend, but he doesn't believe you're real because nobody apart from Henry and April have met you."

"So you want me to come introduce myself so he'll back off?" Beca asked. "I'd do that for you."

"Maybe come with me to a function in a couple weeks?" Aubrey said. "But if he doesn't back off, I'm going to have to say something to my boss. It's just so frustrating, I can barely get a cup of coffee without him saying something to me."

"Talk to your boss," Beca said. "Just make him aware that it's going on and that it might turn into a thing if it's left unchecked."

"Maybe," Aubrey said.

"Can't say I'd argue with his taste though," Beca added. "You are exceptionally beautiful, Ms Posen." She kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you Beca."

"I love you, too," she said. "And seriously, if you want me to kill him, just let me know." Aubrey smiled softly and let her eyes close. She was just about asleep as they arrived at home. Beca gently shook her and helped her inside. She declined painkillers, preferring just to curl up in bed next to Beca, the brunette softly scratching her scalp until she fell asleep.

The next morning, Aubrey was feeling much better. She woke before Beca and was cooking breakfast when she heard Beca's phone ringing. She picked it up.

"Aubrey Posen," she said.

"Oh, I was looking for Beca Mitchell," a male voice said.

"She's asleep at the moment," Aubrey said. "Who's calling?"

"My name is Ted Shepherd, I'm from Epic's AMD department and I really need to speak with her as soon as possible," he said. Aubrey went into the bedroom.

"I'll rouse her," Aubrey said. "It's time she got up anyway." She covered the receiver and shook Beca's shoulder.

"Beca," she said. "Wake up."

"What?" Beca said into the pillow.

"Ted Shepherd from ADM needs to talk to you," Aubrey said. "He was pretty insistent." Beca rolled over and rubbed her face quickly, before she took the phone.

"Beca Mitchell," she said a little groggily.

"Beca, Ted," he said. "We met once."

"Yes, I remember."

"Sorry to wake you," he said. "I wanted to talk to you about the flash drive of work you gave to Annalise Moore."

"Yes, was there a problem?" Beca asked.

"No," he replied. "Just the opposite. She played it for me last night and I didn't really want to put this conversation off any longer. It was good. Very good."

"Thank you sir," she said.

"Annalise wants me to schedule a sitdown with you for Monday," he said. "After you're done for the day."

"Sir, it's not that I'm not interested," Beca started.

"Ted, please."

"Okay, Ted," she said. "I'd like that a lot, but I'm actually cutting out at four o'clock to have my cast removed."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, finally," she said.

"So let's do it Tuesday," he said. "Anyway, why I'm calling. At this meeting on Tuesday, I want you to bring us say… ten tracks that you've crafted that you think showcase your abilities best."

"Easy," she said. "That's not a problem."

"Excellent," he said. "I'll see you five o'clock Tuesday, Annalise's office."

"Thank you, Ted," she said. "I appreciate it." She hung up, a broad smile erupting across her face. She bounded out of bed to find Aubrey pouring them both cups of coffee to go with the pancakes.

"So maybe Annalise and Ted from ADM want to meet with me about my tracks," Beca said. "He said they were really good and wants me to bring in ten more to show them."

"That's awesome," Aubrey said. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know," Beca said. "Annalise said the track fix is something they like to do to see what kind of talent they're working with, so I guess that means they like what I brought them?"

"Does it sound like maybe they're thinking about getting you to do other stuff outside the program?"

"Oh, that'd be sick," Beca said. "But I'm not going to get my hopes up until I meet with them Tuesday."

"So I guess your plans for the weekend are pretty booked up," Aubrey said. "Picking just ten out of the thousands."

"It's going to be a bitch. Wanna help?"

"I've got a report to write and about a thousand cases to summarise, but sure," Aubrey said. "Looks like we're camping out on the couch."

"Maybe after we do the whole responsible adult thing and buy some groceries ," Beca said. "Are you feeling better this morning?" Aubrey wrapped her arms around her and kissed her.

"Yep," she said. "A lot."

"Good. Let's eat these really great looking pancakes, then we'll go out and come home and chain ourselves to our laptops and stuff," Beca said. "Just give me a few minutes to change?" Aubrey kissed her on the lips and Beca went to get dressed.

That afternoon, Beca was making slow progress in picking just ten tracks from her hard drives. Aubrey had a mountain of paperwork in front of her, laptop open on her lap and notepad to the right, pencil scribbling furiously. Neither of them had spoken for what felt like hours. Beca rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Bree I'm making coffee, want one?" she asked.

"Please," Aubrey said. "I'm going to be here forever, I feel it." Beca turned the coffee maker on, and heard a knock at the door.

"Don't worry, I got it," she called to Aubrey, and going to the door. When she opened it, she saw a man in ironed chinos and a polo shirt holding flowers and carrying a briefcase. "Can I help you?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "I think I've got the wrong apartment. Is there an Aubrey Posen on this floor?" Beca's eyes narrowed and she stepped into the doorway.

"That really depends," she said. "On why you're bringing flowers to my girlfriend on a Saturday." He looked startled for about half a second, then gave a cocky grin.

"So you're the girlfriend," he said. "Some of us were starting to doubt you existed."

"Way I hear it, the only one who thinks that is you," Beca said. "Or maybe you'd just really like it if I didn't exist. Mind if I ask how you got our address? Or who the hell you even are?"

"Is Aubrey home?" he asked, peering inside.

"Beca?" Aubrey's voice came. She appeared in the doorway and did not look pleased to see their visitor. "Peter, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Thought you'd appreciate a visit and some teamwork on the case summaries," he said.

"You do realize it's really inappropriate for you to be here," Aubrey said. "I didn't invite you. And how did you even find out where I live?"

"I have my ways," he said. "So, going to let me in?"

"On the whole, I think not," Beca said. She moved in front of Aubrey subconsciously. She really did not like the way that this creep was looking at her girlfriend.

"Polite society would dictate you invite me in," Peter said to Beca.

"Polite society would dictate you don't just show up at people's apartments after they've asked you to leave them alone," Beca retorted. "Now that we've established that I am, in fact, real, and that Aubrey still doesn't want you here, I'd like you to leave."

"Aubrey?"

"Yes, Peter. Leave," Aubrey said insistently. "I have absolutely no interest in seeing you outside of a work setting, which I've now explained several times. And don't come back." Beca closed the door in his face.

"Maybe some other time," he called through the door.

"Bree, how did he find out where we live?" Beca asked, worried.

"I don't know," she said. "I'm going to call Mr Brewer. It scares me that he thinks he can just show up here. What if you hadn't been home?" She went and got her phone and called her boss. She looked unhappy as she relayed the situation to him. Beca was nervous thinking about what Aubrey had said. What if she hadn't been home? The guy didn't know how to take no for an answer. The conversation went on for quite a long time.

"He's going to speak with HR," Aubrey said after it was doen, plopping back down on to the couch. "And he wants to talk with April because she was present some of the time when he was hitting on me and stuff. He said he's going to try and be discreet with it as well."

"Should we be concerned?" Beca asked.

"I don't know," Aubrey said helplessly.

"You gotta do me a favor," Beca said. "No train commuting. You didn't like it when I was drugged up, and I really don't like the idea of you alone on the subway with a guy out there who knows our address and has serious boundary problems on top of a major toner for you. It'd make me feel better."

"It's probably a good idea," Aubrey said. "I promise." Beca hugged her.

"Maybe it's time for a break," she said. Aubrey nodded. "I'll even watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy with you."

"That'd be nice," Aubrey said. "My brain suddenly hurts."

"I'll finish up making coffee, you set it all up," Beca said, squeezing her hand. "I'm sure we'll be fine."


	5. Chapter 5

Beca was anxiously waiting outside Annalise's office, waiting for her meeting with Annalise and Ted. She flexed her now cast-free hand, something she found herself doing simply because she could. She was glad to be free of it, honestly. She'd spent the past twenty four hours appreciating the little things she'd suddenly found easier – buttoning her jeans, tying her shoelaces, and working on her laptop. Which had led her to where she was now. In the hallway, waiting. Annalise's assistant had said that they were about ten minutes behind schedule, which wasn't a big deal.

"Beca," Ted said, coming into the hall and taking a seat next to her. "How's the hand?"

"Feels light as a feather without that damned cast," she said.

"I'll bet," he said. "Apparently Annie is late?"

"Only about ten minutes," Beca said. "That's what Georgie said."

"Probably because of the thing earlier with Ahmadi," he said. "Guy submitted a demo and we canned it, it was pure shit. Had no sound of his own, he was basically emulating tracks off of that Justin Timberlake album, Future Sex Love Sounds."

"Good album," Beca said.

"Great album," Ted said. "This guy was nothing. Anyway, his dad turns out to be some embassy guy somewhere and all of a sudden, he's got Annie's email, and sends like a hundred emails. So she tells him to come in, and they get into a screaming match that ends in her saying that he's a talentless hack with more money than talent."

"Wow," Beca said. "Annalise doesn't seem like the kind who would take that shit. I've only spoken to her a few times, but she's very much the boss isn't she? Knows what she's about, what she needs to do, what she wants."

"Exactly," Ted said. "You don't get to be in her role at her age unless you're amazing. And she likes you, so this meeting could be the start of good things." At that precise moment, Georgie appeared to usher them all in to Annalise's office.

"Sorry I was running late," she said. "I tried to pull my schedule back in…"

"Ahmadi?" Ted asked.

"Fucking Ahmadi," she seethed. "Anyway. Not why we're here. Drinks? Coffee?"

"I'll take a black coffee," Ted said.

"Same," Beca said. "Thanks." There was a pot on a bench by the window, so Annalise went and poured them herself, having kicked off her heels, another pair of Louboutins.

"Okay," she said, after there were three mugs between them on the table. "So, Beca, Ted told you we want to hear more of your stuff."

"Yeah," she said. She rummaged through her laptop bag and pulled out a flash drive and put it on the table. "That took me all weekend, but that's the ten that I feel sum me up best."

"All weekend? How many tracks you got?"

"I dunno, Aubrey did the math once and figured that if I had an average file size of nine megabytes I've probably got somewhere in the neighborhood of eight thousand tracks on my hard drive," Beca said.

"Eight _thousand?_" Ted said. "Seriously?"

"I've been doing this since I was fourteen," Beca shrugged. "It's probably a good estimate. I mean, a good portion are probably shit, but yeah."

"Eight thousand," Annalise said. "We have artists who've been on book for a decade who haven't even cracked a hundred and fifty."

"Can I be honest?" Beca said. "I wasn't a very social teenager. I spent a lot of time talking music with my mom, with people who lived and breathed music. Most of the other girls my age were getting drunk and pregnant, and I was chained to a computer trying to mix Mozart and Mellencamp."

"Did that work?" Annalise asked, interestedly.

"Not even remotely," Beca said. Annalise took the flash drive. "Do you want me to give you guys a minute?"

"No, stay," Annalise said. She plugged it into her laptop and hit play. The sound came not from the computer but from speakers built into the corners of the office. Beca sat quietly as Annalise and Ted talked amongst themselves. They spoke quietly, so she couldn't hear, but she hoped the smiles on their faces were a good sign. They didn't actually listen to the entire length of a track, skipping through and taking notes as they did so. After it was done, Beca put her coffee cup down nervously.

"We want to talk to you about some other things," Annalise said. "The track fixes. You changed the key on one of them?"

"I wasn't sure what the parameters were on the project," Beca said. "But yes. That track needed a minor key. It made the melody so much more interesting, and that reminds me, I didn't know whether or not you'd mind that I re-recorded the vocal."

"So that was you," Ted said. "I knew you sang a little, but I thought it was a ringer for sure."

"No that was me," Beca said. Annalise was watching her thoughtfully.

"What's your endgame here?" she asked. "Are you looking to make yourself into a star?"

"No," Beca said vehemently. "I'm interested in producing, songwriting, engineering. Back of house. I'm not an idiot, if the right opportunity presented itself somewhere down the track, I'd consider it. But that time is not now. I've got too much to learn, and that's not where my interest is." Annalise was tapping her pen on her notepad.

"I told you," she said to Ted. "Didn't I?"

"You did," Ted admitted. "I should know better by now."

"Here's the deal," Annalise said. "You're good. You're actually really fucking awesome. Have you ever worked in a professional studio?"

"Never," Beca said. "I've done some radio work, I've been in recording booths when my mom taught at the Con in Portland, but nothing like what you guys have here."

"You're awesome, and we think you're suited to something much better than the grad program," Annalise said. "The grad program is great, don't get me wrong. It's for people who show a little aptitude for the industry and for figuring out if they'll fit into the machine somewhere. But you've got talent, not aptitude. It's pouring out of you. You've got a handle on half dozen instruments, you can arrange a multi-layered composition, you can switch genres like it's nothing and your ear is close to impeccable. Your mom teaches at the Con?"

"Taught," Beca corrected. "She passed a few years ago."

"But I'm assuming that's where you started to learn?"

"Mom taught me theory and piano," Beca said. "Everything else kind of came after. Nobody taught me that, exactly."

"Shit, you're untrained, too?" Ted said. "This just gets better."

"Our plan is going to be to move you out of the grad program," Annalise said simply. "That's not the question. It's a done deal. It's not going to be challenging enough and it would end up being a waste for you and for us. You just need to give us a few days to decide what we're going to get you to do, and who with."

"Seriously?" Beca said.

"Seriously," Annalise said. "I wouldn't talk about it with any of your colleagues yet, though. Might put a few noses out of joint."

"You mean Luis?" Beca said with a smirk.

"I don't know who admitted him but I kind of want to punch him in the throat so he stops talking," Annalise muttered. "He's not without a little skill, but his mouth is just…."

"Huge? Never silent? Incessant? Annoying? Disproportionately noisy?" Beca supplied.

"Yes," she said. They chuckled.

"So are you interested, Beca?" Ted said.

"Uh, yeah I am," she said. "Whatever you got, I want in." Annalise smiled.

"I'll get back to you before the end of the week and we'll talk details," she said. "Thanks for stopping by." She shook Annalise and Ted's hand in turn.

"Thank you so much," Beca said. "Honestly. I'm going to work my ass off for you guys." Ted smiled as she left, and then turned to Annalise.

"We got lucky with her," he said.

"Are you kidding?" Annalise said. "We need to lock her down into something worthwhile before someone else gets wind of her. I got a call from Joe Holden at Seaside, apparently someone forwarded him a bunch of her acappella arrangements and he's wanting to know what we've offered."

"She seems solid though," Ted said. "Like she'd stay even if she got a bunch of offers."

"She does," Annalise replied. "She's got ties here. The girlfriend, Aubrey, that's long term and she's working in a job that nothing in LA will compete with. There's only one United Nations. Plus New York to Atlanta is a lot closer than LA to Atlanta."

"What are you going to do with her?" Ted asked.

"I've got a few ideas," she said. "You don't have anywhere to be, do you?" Ted shook his head, and Annalise began talking through options.

Beca had just hit the street and was hurriedly calling Aubrey to relay what had happened during the meeting. Her happiness was put immediately on hold when she heard the tone in her girlfriend's voice. She sounded tired and like she'd been crying.

"Bree?" she said. "What's wrong?"

"Peter stopped by my office at lunch today," she said. "Saying all sorts of delightful things about me and making pretty specific threats about you."

"I'm going to kill him," Beca spat.

"No, Beca, I'm really worried now," Aubrey said. "I went straight to Brewer, and they brought HR down to talk to me, but I'm scared. He knows where we live, and he's made it clear that he wants you removed from my life."

"What is this guy's fucking deal?" Beca asked. "Bree, are you safe right now?"

"Yeah, I'm in a taxi," she said unhappily. "But HR think I should be worried too. They're going to reprimand him once and final, you know, switch him to another department as well, but something tells me this isn't going to faze him."

"Do we have to move?" Beca asked. She could hear Aubrey start to cry. "Bree, I'm on my way home, and we'll talk then, okay? Whatever it takes for you to feel safe from that creep, I'll do it. I'll call Lily and have her take care of him, if you like."

"I just feel like a dick because you sounded like you had really good news," Aubrey said. "And I had horrible news and just ruined it."

"I do have good news," Beca said. "But your safety is more important, okay? I'll pick up some pizza on the way home and we'll eat it in bed. We'll lock all the doors and windows and I'll stay awake all night if it means you'll feel safe."

"Okay," Aubrey said. "I love you, Beca."

"I love you, too," she said. She bypassed the subway, taking a taxi three quarters of the way and getting out once she hit traffic, then got out and walked the rest. She picked up the pizza, keeping her eyes open for Peter The Douchebag and got home a little earlier than she normally would have. Aubrey looked exhausted and upset, so she deposited the pizza on the counter and pulled her into a hug. They stayed in that embrace for a long while, Aubrey burying her face in the familiarity and security of Beca's shoulder.

They undressed and tugged shorts and shirts on before doing exactly as Beca had promised, which was eat their pizza in bed. Aubrey was more hands on than normal, barely being able to not touch Beca at all, practically curling up in her lap. When they were done, Beca took the box into the kitchen and climbed back into the bed, wrapping an arm around Aubrey.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I honestly don't know," Aubrey said. "But tell me something good. It'll help."

"Oh yeah," Beca said. "They're going to pull me out of the grad program and give me another job."

"Really!? That's incredible," Aubrey said. "What is it?"

"They're not sure yet," Beca said. "But Annalise digs my skill set, apparently everyone loves my stuff, and they think it's a waste to keep me in the grad program. She said she needs to figure out the who and what, but that she'll let me know by the end of the week."

"Wow," Aubrey said. "That didn't take long."

"They listened to the tracks I brought in, but they were pretty much talking to each other while they played," Beca said. "It's pretty exciting but god it's nerve wracking. They're probably going to put me in a studio, Bree. What the hell? How did I get so lucky? Awesome job, amazing girlfriend…" she kissed Aubrey gently.

"You're not so bad either," Aubrey said. She burrowed even further into Beca's side, eyes drooping a little from fatigue.

"Get some sleep," Beca said. "I'm not going to go to sleep just yet, but you look exhausted, Bree." Aubrey looked almost embarrassed.

"Beca…"

"What?"

"Can you do me a favor?" she asked quietly. "Can you just stay here at least until I fall asleep? I just don't really want to be alone, even if it's only the next room." Beca wriggled down into the bed.

"Of course I can," she said. "I said I'd do anything to help you feel safe. I mean it. Want me to sing to you?" Aubrey nodded and closed her eyes as Beca began. It wasn't part of their usual routine, singing to one another, but Aubrey loved hearing Beca's voice as she drifted off to sleep. More often than not she sang Carole King songs, and tonight's choice was Way Over Yonder.

When Beca was sure that Aubrey was asleep, she slid out of bed and tucked the blanket around her. She decided to take a shower and maybe work on a few more mixes, maybe call Cynthia Rose. When she'd finally had enough for the night, she went back into the bedroom. Aubrey's face was buried deeply into Beca's pillow, almost to the point where Beca was questioning how she was even able to breathe. She shook her head at her girlfriend, and then slid into the bed as carefully as possible. Aubrey's hand immediately reached out and latched on to her own, Beca squeezing it and feeling Aubrey relax.

Try as she might, though, she couldn't sleep. She kept thinking about this asshole who was scaring Aubrey. It sounded like her bosses were telling her she had every right to be afraid but she wanted to know why they hadn't just fired him. And she also was debating whether this was something that she should be telling the cops about. This guy had already showed up uninvited to their house. It worried her more than she'd let on with Aubrey, she'd wanted to maintain a brave face for her, but deep down she knew that the guy who had knocked on the door the previous weekend would easily take her down if it came to it. She ended up wrestling with many other entertaining thoughts of a similar nature until the room began to lighten around her, her body finally succumbing.

The morning was downright offensive. Aubrey slept okay but it had been restless. Beca had barely slept at all, and she'd managed to spill hot coffee on herself not once but twice.

"Fuck!" she shouted. She peeled off the second shirt she'd put on that day, trying to get the hot liquid as far away from her as possible. She grabbed a cloth to clean it up and was just wiping down the counter when Aubrey came in.

"Are you okay?" she said.

"Just coffee. Again," Beca sighed.

"Not what I meant," Aubrey said, taking the shirt from her and rinsing it so the stain wouldn't set. "You seem really… like you're not with it."

"It's nothing," Beca said.

"Beca, don't lie to me," Aubrey said. "I know you too well and you suck at it. Just talk to me."

"I didn't really get any sleep," she admitted. They went back into the bedroom and Beca began digging through her drawers for another shirt. She was running low on work appropriate options, they normally did laundry on the weekends and she'd already written two off. She eventually pulled out a Barden Bellas tee, then kicked off her boots to replace them with converse. "I was up all night worrying about this Peter situation. I don't like that he still works in the same building as you, I don't like that he knows where we live, and I don't like the idea of either of us being alone here while he's running around like a lunatic." She laced her shoe and sighed.

"How much sleep did you get?" Aubrey asked, pulling her up and into a hug.

"I don't know, it was starting to get light," Beca mumbled. "Not a lot."

"Are you ready to go?" Aubrey asked.

"I haven't eaten breakfast and my train isn't due for over an hour," Beca said.

"I'm taking you to get some good coffee and we'll grab something on the way," Aubrey said. "I can't stop you worrying, but I can pump you full of caffeine so you make it through the day." Beca nodded.

"I just want to grab a jacket," she said. She ended up grabbing a knitted jacket of Aubrey's deciding the lingering fragrance of her girlfriend might help calm her down. Then they locked the apartment and settled in at their favorite café. It wasn't a long breakfast, but Beca was able to eat and polish off a large coffee, ordering a second one to go, before she had to leave for the train station. Aubrey called for a taxi – Beca was still adamant that she not use the subway until the whole ordeal was resolved – and as it pulled up, she waved and headed toward the station.

She arrived at work the same time as Delilah and Nina, Delilah remarking that she looked beyond tired. Beca just headed for the coffee pot and topped off her large black.

"Seriously, are you okay?" Delilah asked.

"My girlfriend's picked up a stalker," Beca said. "Some guy from work harassing her. He didn't believe I even existed, then he shows up at the apartment on the weekend. He also spent yesterday's lunch break promising vile things in regards to me and she's freaked out, so I didn't sleep at all."

"Why don't they fire him?" Nina asked.

"They did transfer him out of her department and lock his keycard so he can't get on to her floor," she said. "But it's only been the single report so far. It just blew up so quick, you know? And I don't even wanna think about what happens if he shows up at our place again. I can't protect a damn thing, I'm tiny. Bree doesn't want to move because why should she, and I agree. And there's no way in hell I'm buying a gun or anything."

"Who's buying a gun?" asked Sharelle, looking up as they entered the conference room.

"Not me," Beca said. "Aubrey has a stalker. I'm not sleeping."

"Has she filed a police report?" Sharelle asked.

"Honestly, no," Beca said. "Work are handling the stuff on their end, and he showed up at our house randomly last weekend, but it's not like he's sitting outside the apartment."

"That you know of," Sharelle pointed out. " Where do you live?" Beca gave her the address.

"Let me talk to James, he's got friends with the PD and he might have some down in your neck of the woods. I'm pretty sure if it's being documented at work and stuff you can call the precinct and give them a heads up, so to speak, so that if something does happen there's a history for them to check up on," Sharelle offered.

"Well she came home with a bunch of papers from her meetings with HR," Beca said. "Transcripts of all the conversations she's had with them. They don't do things by halves."

"That's good," Sharelle said. "I'll let you know what I find out."

"Thanks Sharelle," Beca said. She slumped in her chair and rubbed her face tiredly. "I'm going to need that coffee mainlined if I'm making it through today."

"Mitchell!" came a voice at the door. It was Annalise. "Grab your stuff and come with me." Beca did as instructed and followed Annalise into the hall.

"So it's Wednesday," Annalise said. "We've got a plan for you all laid out, and it starts now. First, some contracts and stuff. Then we've got two and a half days to get you acclimatized to our studios so you can help out with your first recording session on Monday."

"Shit that was quick," Beca said.

"We're going to pair you with Jason Harpley," she said. "He did a lot of work with The Fray and a whole lot of stuff with-"

"Michael Jackson," Beca said. "I've heard his name before."

"Good. So you'll know that he knows his shit," Annalise said. "He'll show you the ropes of our normal setups and a few of his tricks of the trade. He likes to let the artist do whatever and just facilitate the most comfortable environment possible. And then on Monday you'll get to assist with Sara Bareilles' new album."

"Holy fucking shit," Beca said. "Sorry."

"Never apologize for profanity with me," Annalise smiled. "Jason either. He's English, every other word is bollocks or cock or something." Beca tossed her empty coffee cup in the trash and followed Annalise into her office. Annalise introduced her to someone from legal and then tapped her perfectly manicured fingers on top of a thick stack of papers.


End file.
